AAMIR MUKHTAR
As the return of the power projects from NHPC were pitched during the 2014 polls in Jammu and Kashmir by the PDP, all eyes are now set at the government over whether the chief minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed would take a call over the issue in near future. PDP has been pitching over the loss- es the state of Jammu and Kashmir faced due to the Indus Water Treaty (IWT) and the power sharing between the state of Jammu and Kashmir and the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC). JK’s civil society and common people are eyeing towards the possible measure expected to be taken by the new PDP-BJP coalition over such a contentious issue. The PDP even in its vision document for the elections of 2014 had assured people that the party would play a vital role in bringing back the power proj- ects to the state of Jammu and Kashmir from NHPC.
Salal, Uri, Dalhoste and the Sewa II power projects were under NHPC and generate 1680 MW of electricity. But the state’s share is a mere 12 per cent. The state is producing 308 MW from projects regulated and run by the Jammu and Kashmir State Power Development Corporation (JKSDC), falling under the state sector excluding the Baghliar project which produces another 758 MW. The total requirement, both domestic and industrial, of the state is 2500 MW.
It is also a known fact that every year the state purchases power from the NHPC worth billions of rupees and despite having the potential of generating 30,000 MW of power, 25 per cent of state’s population, as per figures, is without electricity and 55 per cent without safe drinking water, despite the huge water resources in the state. September2015 2015 Kashmir Leader December Interestingly, the former PHE, flood control and irrigation, Taj Mohi-ud- din had confirmed earlier that the 1975 agreement was missing from the PDD records adding that the agree- ment had been signed on a 50:50 part- nership between the state and NHPC.
“In the last eight years we have lost Rs 10,000 crores due to the loss of a file as we couldn’t get back Salal in 2002 as per the agreement,” Taj had said. Kashmir’s noted economist Nisar Ali stated that the state government has so far failed to get the compensation for its water resources from GOI. He said, “the government of India owes Rs 20,000 crores to the state as compensation for the power generated from the water resources. “Out of the 20,000 MW of power that the state has the potential to generate, 15,000 MW can be exported to other states and astronomical amount of revenues can thus be earned through it,” ob- serves Nasir Ali. The civil society while raising concern over the issue had termed the treaty a ‘trick’ with the people of Jammu and Kashmir. “Signed by then Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and then Pakistan President Ayub Khan in 1960, it is a big trick played on the J&K people, Kashmiris in par- ticular. The two countries are mint- ing money from the rivers of Jammu and Kashmir while the state is yet to be properly compensated for its water resources,” says a known academician of the state Professor Dos Mohammad Khan. Pertinently, the power generated through the power projects run by NHPC is being supplied to Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Himachal, Chandi- garh and as far as Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan.
On January 25, 2014, the PDP pa- tron Mufti Mohammad Sayeed stated that PDP’s stand on Article 370, revocation of AFSPA, peace talks with Pakistan and separatists, release of ? Salal, Uri, Dalhoste and the Sewa II power projects were under NHPC and generate 1680 MW of electricity. But the state’s share is a mere 12 per cent. The state is producing 308 MW from projects regulated and run by the Jammu and Kashmir State Power Development Corporation (JKSDC), falling under the state sector excluding the Baghliar project which produces another 758 MW. The total requirement, both domestic and industrial, of the state is 2500 MW. political prisoners, return of power projects and comprehensive rehabilitation of flood-affected would remain non-negotiable during the talks with BJP on alliance formation. Now when the PDP’s coalition part- ner BJP has been asserting that it will not act as ‘spoilsport’ in return of the power projects to Jammu and Kashmir, the onus indeed lies on the pres- ent regime that whether it will strive to make the lamps in Kashmir glow forever.
